My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Results tagged ‘ Phillies' Home Opener ’

Three home runs by Ryan Braun helps the Brew Crew ruin the Phils’ opening day at Citizens Bank Park, as the Phils lose to the Brewers, 10-4.

The Phils took the lead in the bottom of the first as, with two men on, and with two men out, Marlon Byrd hits an RBI infield single, knocking in Carlos Ruiz, who had earlier walked, then stopped at third base on Ryan Howard’s double, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead, while sending Howard, who had just doubled, up to third base. The Brewers would tie the game up at one-all in the top of the second as, with a runner on second, and with two men out, Mark Reynolds hits an RBI single, scoring Jonathan Lucroy, who had earlier doubled. The Brewers would take the lead in the top of third as, with two men on, and with nobody out, Ryan Braun hits a three-run home run, his first home run of the season, knocking in Carlos Gomez, who had started the inning off with a double, then moved up to third base on Jean Segura’s sacrifice bunt, and Segura, who would be safe at first on his bunt as pitcher Kyle Kendrick committed a fielding error trying to field the ball, giving the Brewers a 4-1 lead. The Brewers would add to their lead five batters later as, with two men on, and now with two men out, Scooter Gennett hits an RBI single, knocking in Lucroy, who had earlier walked, then stopped at second base on third baseman Cody Asche’s throwing error to first on Reynolds’ grounder, making it a 5-1 Brewers’ lead, while sending Reynolds, who was earlier safe on Asche’s error, over to third base. The Brewers then took a 6-1 lead as, with two men out, Braun hits a solo home run, his second home run of the season, and of the ball game. The Phils would get a run back in their half of the fourth as, with one man on, and with two men out, Jimmy Rollins hits an RBI double, knocking in Ben Revere, who had just singled, making it a 6-2 Brewers’ lead. The Phils then cut the Brewers’ lead down to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth as, with two men on, and with two men out, Asche hits an RBI single, knocking in Dom Brown, who had earlier walked, then stopped at second base on Cesar Hernandez’s single, while sending Hernandez, who had just singled, up to third base. The Phils then made it a 6-4 Brewers’ lead in the bottom of the sixth as, with a man on third, and with nobody out, Rollins hits an RBI single, knocking in Revere, who had just tripled. The Brewers would get a run back in the top of the seventh as, with one man on, and with two men out, Khris Davis, who had just singled, would score on a fielding error committed by Revere on Reynolds’ fly ball, as he would be unable to catch the ball, making it a 7-4 Brewers’ lead, while Reynolds would stop at second base on the error. The Brewers then made it a 10-4 lead in the top of the eighth as, with two men on, and with one man out, Braun would hit his second three-run home run of the game, his third home run of the season, as he knocked in Gomez, who had earlier doubled and Segura, who had just been hit by the pitch. That would end up being the final score as Jim Henderson threw a 1-2-3 inning, striking out Ruiz on a foul tip, to end the game.

Kyle Kendrick (0-1, 3.75) took the lost as he pitched five innings, giving up six runs, only four of which were earned, on nine hits and two walks, while he struck out three. B.J. Rosenberg pitched one and two-thirds innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits. Mario Hollands pitched a third of an inning, getting out the only batter whom he would face. Brad Lincoln pitched two innings, giving up three runs on four hits and a hit batter, while striking out two. Kyle Lohse (1-1, 4.50) got the win as he pitched five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and five walks, while striking out four. Zach Duke collected his second hold of the season as he pitched an inning, giving up a run on two hits, while striking out two. Will Smith also collected his second hold of the season as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk, while striking out a batter. Brandon Kintzler and Jim Henderson combined for two 1-2-3 innings, striking out three batters (Kintzler (1), Henderson (2)) between them.

The Phils had nine hits in the game, with Ben Revere (Single, Triple) and Jimmy Rollins (Single, Double, 2 RBIs) leading the ballclub with two hits each. Ryan Howard (Double), Marlon Byrd (Single, RBI), Dom Brown (Single), Cesar Hernandez (Single) and Cody Asche (Single, RBI), had the other five Phils’ hits. The Phils also had six walks (Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Brown (2), Hernandez, Asche) in the game, while the defense would commit three errors (Kyle Kendrick, Asche, Revere), and throw out two runners (Kendrick/Ruiz. B.J. Rosenberg/Ruiz).

The Phils (3-4, T-4th East) will continue their series with the Brewers (5-2, T-1st Central) with a game tonight. The game will be played at Citizens Bank Park and is to start at 7:05 pm EDT. The Phils will send to the mound Roberto Hernandez (1-0, 3.38) who is coming off a win against the Cubs on April 4, as he pitched five and a third innings, giving up three runs on two hits and a walk, while striking out five, in the Phils’ 7-2 win. He’ll be trying to lead the Phils back to .500. The Brewers will counter with Matt Garza (0-1, 1,13), who is coming off a lost against the Braves on April 2, as he went eight innings, giving up a run on two hits and a walk, while striking out seven, in the Brewers’ 1-0 lost. He will be looking for his first win of the season. The Phils will be trying to get back to .500 while trying to even the series up at a game apiece.

A.J. Burnett give up eight runs as the Phils are unable to sweep the series in Chicago, as they lose to the Cubs 8-3.

The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the first as, with a man on first, and with nobody out, Ryan Kalish hits an RBI triple, knocking in Emilio Bonifacio, who had started the inning off with a walk, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, after Anthony Rizzo had walked, putting runners on the corners, with still nobody out, Nate Schierholtz hits a sacrifice fly, knocking in Kalish, giving the Cubs a 2-0 lead, while sending Rizzo up to second base. The Cubs then made it a 3-0 lead two batters later, after Luis Valbuena had walked, putting runners on second and first, and with one man out, as Starlin Castro hits an RBI double, knocking in Rizzo, and sending Valbuena up to third base. The Cubs then increased their lead as Ryan Sweeney hits a sacrifice fly, knocking in Valbuena, giving the Cubs a 4-0 lead. The Phils tried to get onto the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as, with the bases loaded, via singles by Marlon Byrd and Dom Brown, with Byrd stopping at second base, and with both runners moving up a base on shortstop Castros’ force attempt fielding error of Carlos Ruiz’s grounder, and with one man out, Cody Asche hits into a force out at the plate, 1-2, as pitcher Carlos Villanueva threw out Byrd at home plate, as catcher John Baker touched the plate for the inning’s second out, while Brown and Ruiz both moved up a base, and Asche reached first base, leaving the bases loaded, before A.J. Burnett ended the threat by flying to center for the inning’s final out. The Phils would finally score in the top of the fifth as, with two men on, and with nobody out, Chase Utley hits a grounder up the middle which looked like it had a chance to be a base hit, but would be deflected off of pitcher Villanueva’s glove to the shortstop Castro, who then threw out Utley, 1-6-3, for the inning’s first out, while Ben Revere, who had started the inning off with a walk, then stole second base, before going on to third base on Jimmy Rollins’ single, would score, making it a 4-1 Cubs’ lead, as Rollins, who had earlier singled, then stole second base, would be forced to stay at second base because of the deflection, before Phils’ manager Ryne Sandburg would come out to dispute the call, asking for a review. The umpires would review the play, before upholding the call, leaving the Phils with a man on second, and with one man out. The inning would then end as Ryan Howard hits a sharp line drive that would be caught by Bonifacio, who then threw to second base to double up Rollins in a 4-6 doubleplay. The Cubs would get the run back in the bottom of the sixth as, with two men on, and with two men out, Bonifacio hits an RBI infield single, on a ball that was deflected by pitcher Burnett, allowing Sweeney, who had reached third base on a three base fielding error by center fielder Revere, to score, giving the Cubs a 5-1 lead, while sending Baker, who had earlier been hit by the pitch, to reach second base. The Cubs then made it a 7-1 lead as Kalish followed with a two-run double, scoring both Baker and Bonifacio. After the Phils had replaced Burnett with Brad Lincoln, the Cubs made it an 8-1 lead as Rizzo hits an RBI single, knocking in Kalish. The Phils would get a run back in the top of the ninth as, with the bases loaded, via walks to Asche, pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn, Jr., a wild pitch by pitcher Jose Veras, moving up both runners, and a walk to Revere, and with one man out, Rollins hits into an RBI force out, knocking in Asche, making it an 8-2 Cubs’ lead, as Gwynn is forced out at third base, 5-unassisted, while Revere moved up to second base. After Utley had walked to reload the bases, as Revere and Rollins both moved up a base, and Pedro Strop replaces Veras on the mound, the Phils made it an 8-3 Cubs’ lead as Strop threw a wild pitch, allowing Revere to score, while Rollins and Utley both moved up a base. That would end up being the final score as Howard would line out to left field for the game’s final out.

A. J. Burnett (0-1, 3.86) took the lost as he pitched five and two-third innings, giving up eight runs, only four of which were earned, on five hits, six walks and a hit batter, while striking out three. Brad Lincoln pitched a third of an inning, giving up a hit. Jeff Manship pitched two scoreless innings, giving up a walk, while striking out two. Carlos Villanueva (1-2, 4.26) got the win as he pitched five innings, giving up a run on six hits and a hit batter, while striking out three. Brian Schlitter collected his second hold of the season as he threw a 1-2-3 inning. Hector Rondon pitched two scoreless innings, giving up two hits, while striking out two. Jose Veras pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up two runs on four walks and a wild pitch, as he struck out a batter. Pedro Strop pitched a third of an inning, as he threw a wild pitch, before finally getting out the only batter whom he would face.

The Phils had eight hits in the game, with Jimmy Rollins (Singles, RBI) and Dom Brown (Singles) both leading the team with two hits each. Ben Revere (Single), Chase Utley (Double, RBI), Byrd (Single) and Cody Asche (Single), had the other four Phils’ hits, while the final Phil’s run came in on a wild pitch. The Phils also had four walks (Revere, Utley, Asche, pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn, Jr.) and two stolen bases (Revere (4), Rollins (1)) in the game, while the defense committed an error (Revere) and picked a runner off first (Burnett).

The Phils (3-3, 4th East) are off today as their home opener against the Brewers (4-2, T-1st Central) was called off yesterday because of the possibility of rain in today’s forecast. Instead, it will be played tomorrow afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, to start at 4:05 pm EDT. The Phils will send to the mound Kyle Kendrick (0-0, 1.29) who is coming off a no-decision against the Rangers on April 2, as he pitched seven strong innings, giving up a run on five hits and a walk, while striking out four, in the Phils’ 4-3 walk-off lost. He will be going for his first win of the season, while trying to lead the Phils to the win on opening day. The Brewers will counter with Kyle Lohse (0-1, 3.86), who is coming off a lost against the Braves on April 1, as he went seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks, while he struck out eight, in the Brewers’ 5-2 lost. He will be going for his first victory of the season, while trying to silent the Phils’ bats. The Phils will be trying to start off their first home stand of the year on a good note.

And they lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-3, in 10 innings. I’m pissed. No, I’m not poed over the fact that they’d lost their opening game, something that they’d seems to enjoy doing over the last decade or so. And no, it’s not because they wasted a good effort by their starter, Brett Myers, even if he did give up a home run in the top of the 8th that tied the game after the starters had fought their way against John Smoltz to take over the lead, who in most cases appear to be hitting the ball good right now (a good sign that they’re going to break a few games wide open later in the season). And it’s not because they blew an opportunity to break the game open while leading 3-2 with runners on second and third with nobody out in the bottom of the 7th, or that they blew an opportunity with runners on first and second with two out in the bottom of the 9th to win it. No, I’m pissed because Ryan Madson, who came in to pitch the top of the 10th in relief of ‘Flash’ Gordon, gave up a two run home run to lose the game. I mean, what is up with him? It seems when the relief corps blows a game, he seems to be the one leading the way. Well, it at least seems that way to me since last year. And with his previous year’s ERA of giving up over 5 runs a game doesn’t instill a lot of confident that this year he won’t continue blowing it when he’s given the ball.

From what I see right now, it looks like the relief corps will determine how far the Phils will go this season. And, if Madson continues to go on the pitcher’s mound and blow up the game just like he did today, the Phils aren’t going into the playoffs.

I’m hoping that I’ll be proven wrong, but he’s going to have to go out there and show me that he can go in there and not give up runs!

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